The Way Things Should Have Been
by AF2010
Summary: One shot written out of my frustration of what they did to Reid.  Do not own anything.


How it should have been

'Congratulations... Dr. Oliver on your retirement, I have looked forward to this day for many years to finally tell my hero how much I have enjoyed our friendship." Dr. Chris Hughes looked over at his old friend of 30 years with a smile.

"I will never forget the day that you saved my life in 2010 by going to the Bay City and getting the heart for me when no one else could."

As he continued to speak Reid could not help but think back on that same day himself; the day he almost lost his life over an impulsive decision to go get Chris a new heart. His brand-new late model car, for some reason, stalled on the train tracks and he could not get the seatbelt to unbuckle. He looked on in horror as a train got closer and closer, but it seemed to take forever to hit him. Thankfully the train conductor was able to hit the emergency brake and slow the train down enough. When it did hit his car it ended up pushing him half a mile down the track injuring him badly but not critically.

He remembers his head hitting the windshield pain in his knees at and his arms, pain everywhere for that matter. He remembers laying there waiting hoping somebody would help him. He remembers seeing the train conductor and other people looking at him, talking to him. He heard the sirens. He heard the firemen and he heard the Jaws of life then he saw the police officer he couldn't remember her name from Oakdale; she looked scared as she came up to him yelling to the window asking how he felt but he couldn't answer. It felt like his lungs had collapsed. He wanted to tell her to get the heart but he could barely breathe. He tasted blood; he wondered where it was coming from, inside or outside his body. She told him that Tom went to Bay City and was given the heart without incident after explaining the situation, thanks to the call Reid had made just before he got to the tracks. Tom had already made it back to Oakdale. Reid exhaled, grimaced in pain and heard a scream, it was Luke.

Luke was being held back by Casey, Allison and a police officer. Reid wondered how they all got there so fast, then he realized it was getting dark and he had been in the car for hours while the Jaws of life was trying to free him. He remembers the helicopter ride to the hospital. He remembers getting to the hospital and after being examined being taken up to a private room that Lucinda Walsh had arranged for him. He had his own bed and there was a cot over to the side, a desk, chair and a table, for Luke.

Reid reminisced of spending months in that room with Luke; it was almost like they were college roommates. Luke barely left his side even when he had to go down for tests, Luke would follow and stand outside and wait as if there were something he could do. The only time Luke left him was to go to the hospital Board meetings and/or to go home and bathe. Luke would Skype his foundation meetings and meetings for Grimaldi Shipping which he became more involved in after some prodding from Reid. Luke even started journaling the experience, his writer's block forever gone with Reid as his muse. He managed to keep himself pretty busy while nursing his true love back to health.

Reid couldn't feed himself or dress himself and Luke wouldn't let the nurse assistants do it, preferring to wash and feed Reid himself. Reid didn't mind that at all. This went on for months Reid knew better to try and change it because that's what Luke did, he love to be needed and be wanted and to be helpful and he was.

Once Reid could eat solid foods, Grandma Emma dropped by everyday with food, or she would send it by Holden, Lily or Faith. Like it or not, Reid was part of the Snyder's and Hughes families now and he got daily visits from all of them. Ethan, Natalie, Tom, Margo, Bob and even Kim visited weekly. Poor Katie spent her time walking between Chris' room and Reid's. Henry and Barbara, Carly and Jack took turns babysitting Jacob. After a few months, Reid was finally released from the hospital. He and Luke took over babysitting duties.

Reid and Luke moved into the old cabin that Jack was fixing up for Janet before she had her baby and realized that the baby was Dusty's. She married Dusty and they gave the cabin back to Jack who gave it to Luke. It had a great view of the Snyder pond and was far enough away from the Snyder farm that Luke thought they wouldn't be bothered by the family. The minute they moved in Ethan, Natalie and Faith made themselves at home in the extra bedrooms. Luke had to run them home nearly every night so that they could be alone together. Reid wasn't as bothered by the kids as he pretended to be. After the quietness of the hospital, even with Luke there, he rather enjoyed the noise and the company that he had gotten used to.

Finally after about a year Reid fully recovered and returned to work. Bob, due to the stress of Chris's heart operation, had to step down and retire. John Dixon had stayed on to be interim - Chief of Staff since neither Chris nor he were able to. Chris recovered as well but did not feel well enough to take the Chief of Staff Job, he was happy to let Reid take it. Between Katie being pregnant and Bob's health issues, Chris had his hands full once he got out of the hospital. He took an extra year off before he returned as Chief of Pediatrics.

"Dad," Reid was hunched by his daughter Erica, "You're not paying attention, everybody is looking at you what are you thinking about?" Reid looked over at his little girl and smiled. He still could not believe that he was the father, albeit through adoption, of two beautiful twins. Erica and Evan were nearly 25 years old, Reid and Luke had adopted them when they were newborns. Erica was a journalist and an author and Evan was in Med School. They were both on their own, married with children of their own, Reid and Luke's grandchildren. They all had come to their father's retirement. Reid looked over at his husband of 20 years who still looked like he did the first day he saw him, and smiled. Luke, Reid thought as he sat there, had aged perfectly for a man in still in his early fifties. He still had a head full of blondish-white hair. Luke who was politely paying attention to Chris's speech didn't see him looking. Evan on the other side of Luke caught his father's eye and smiled then made a face. Reid snickered to himself remembering the circumstances that brought them into his life.

Reid had to operate on a teenage woman from Chicago who was repeatedly kicked in the head and the back by her boyfriend while she was seven months pregnant. He saved her life but she was in a coma and paralyzed from the injuries. She went into labor prematurely and had the twins. Luke fell in love with the twins immediately, a boy and a girl. He named them Evan and Erica, even though they were not his. When the girl came out of the coma, she realized that she could not take care of the children herself so she gave them to Luke and Reid to adopt. Reid didn't have much say in the matter, but they had already won him over anyway. They in turn set her up in one of the best nursing homes in Chicago, paid for her care and brought the kids to see her often. When they were old enough, they were told who she was and allowed to visit even more often.

Before he knew it, Chris was calling him up to the stage to make his speech. This was the part he had dreaded most even though Luke had written a speech for him, he still did not like getting up in front of people and talking. As he got to the stage Chris hugged him with a big bear hug with the strength that he could not remember Chris having. They smiled at each other warmly having general genuinely become good friends over the years. Reid remembered playing in the hallway with Chris in their wheelchairs when no one was looking. It was part of therapy, they would go everywhere together, to the library, to the cafeteria, to the nursery to look at the newborn babies, and when the weather was nice they would roll outside until they got caught by Allison or Nurse Gretchen, or Luke or Katie. He didn't like to think too much about that day that he almost died, but it was also the day he first told Luke that he loved him. Luke returned the love threefold throughout their whole relationship. Reid had no idea that life could be this good.

"Ladies and gentlemen," He began, "It's an honor to be here tonight. As Dr. Hughes said, there was a time in my life thought I would not make it to my retirement. It was the day that changed both of our lives. Not only was it the day that I went to get him a heart which inevitably was actually picked up by Tom Hughes, his brother, but it was also the day I admitted that I was in love with my partner and wanted to spend the rest of my life with him. Mr. Luke Snyder-Oliver." Reid gazed over at his partner of and knew he was crying which he was. "I also want to thank my kids and grandkids for coming out to celebrate with us tonight, I appreciate you guys." He went on the thank Katie, and all of his family members. Reid spent the rest of the speech either thanking people or talking about helping people. After the dinner Luke actually got his husband to dance on the dance floor for the second time in their relationship. He danced with his husband, daughter, granddaughter, goddaughter and anybody else who asked him.

Twenty two years after that night, when Reid Oliver did die, it was peacefully with his husband and children by his side, on his terms, due to old age and life lived to the fullest and not a speeding train in his prime.

Life was good. _Life _was really good.

End

.


End file.
